Untitled Document

Vaughan hospital -
a “dust storm”, why?

When you’re hit by a dust storm and reality vanishes around you, the only thing to do is trust your feet; as you feel the earth under your feet you re-establish contact with the main ro-ad…..that is, reality.
For the last few weeks, the citizens of Vaughan have been caught in the middle of one of these “dust storms”.
Except that, since January 27, 2003 till just a little while ago it was called so-mething else -a dream:the new future (now a must, as an adjective), Vaughan ho-spital.
What happened? What has changed?
At least two things: politics (that is, its self-interests), has taken over and in Vaughan the obsession with “transparency”, “ac-countability” and “integrity” has become a (politically convenient) witch hunt.
Attentive followers (of the local scene) can’t help but also notice much political and personal getting even, at play. The fact is there never were difficulties; neither were there concerns regarding the level of professional know-how or problems of administrative logistical or executive transparency.
All mandates of objective responsibility have been at all times clearly indicated and respected.
So, why then is the new (future) hospital not under construction, since last year -as indicated on May 1, 2007 by the then Health Minister George Smither-man when he announced to have asked the pro-vince’s Central Local He-alth Integration Network (CLHIN), to draft a plan in the next 12 months for the (Vaughan) hospital, with construction beginning within four years?
Smitherman identified the Vaughan Health Care Fo-undation as the CLHIN’s key partner.
In October 2008, the then new Minister of Health David Caplan asked CL-HIN to work with the Vau-ghan Health Campus of Care (VHCC), on the de-velopment of a “Master Plan” for the new (future) hospital.
The “Foundation” had be-en busy at promoting the project and at fundraising for it since 2004 and the VHCC had been officially created in 2008 to work on having the hospital build together with the attached Campus of ancillary he-alth services.

At work since 2003…
The idea of a hospital for Vaughan was formalized on January 27, 2003 by the then Major Michael Di Biase with the creation of a Task Force and the commitment of a group of volunteers among whom we-re Sam Ciccolini and Mi-chael DeGasperis; the two would go on to, respectively, lead the Foundation and the VHCC.
A study conducted by the Foundation indicated that Vaughan needed a 375 bed hospital. Since then, the Foundation and VHCC have been on the front-line leading the fundraising ef-forts and the planning of the multi-faceted hospital complex and the various other health-care services that had been determined Vaughan needed.
As work progressed, the volunteer group expanded into the Vaughan Health Services Group and the Foundation diversified its many fundraising activities to help finance other entities such as the Vau-ghan Community Health Centre and services for se-nior citizens.
In 2009, VHCC received $7 million from the Mi-nistry of Health towards the “Master Plan”. It also negotiated a $154 million commitment from York Region and identified and bought (on behalf of the City of Vaughan that had approved an $80 million commitment), an 87 acres parcel of land at Jane and Major Mackenzie on which to build the hospital and develop the campus of care ancillary health services.
Furthermore, VHCC de-veloped a working agreement with Toronto’s Sun-nybrook (hospital).
For the Foundation and VHCC these have been years of intensive work and commitment, particularly in terms of fundraising ( $12.2 million so far), and in planning, programming, completing studies and analysis for the project, and in identifying those potential “ important key donors”; all geared towards “a shovel on the ground” in 2011.
But, in 2009 the Province changes its mind (why? –mystery), and Richmond Hill’s York Central Ho-spital is given the mandate to build the new (future) Vaughan Hospital. VHCC retains the development of the Campus of Care.
(Vaughan) Council signs an agreement with VHCC granting it a leasehold in-terest on the 40 acres of the Campus of Care lands when the hospital project reaches its third stage of development.

The hour of politics
In the meantime, some (al-leged?) old political fri-endships fall apart. Julian Fantino, head of the Pro-vince’s Emergency Ser-vices “betrays” the liberals -according to Greg Sorbara, liberal MPP for Vaughan (and political “rainmaker” of the McGu-inty government), and runs for the Conservatives in the federal by-election for “Vaughan” (the seat had been vacated by libe-ral MP Maurizio Bevi- lacqua, for his successful run at Mayor of Vaughan in October 2010).
Fantino wins the by-election and states his commitment to the hospital project.
Sorbara doesn’t take it too well and reminds Fantino that “hospitals are a pro-vincial responsibility.”
Early in 2011, the pot boils over…
Fantino –now a minister of State in the Harper government announces a $10 million federal grant to VHCC for Campus of Ca-re infrastructures. Sorbara calls it “a political anno-uncement” as the country is in the middle of a federal election campaign.Two members of the Vaughan Conservative Riding As-sociation –Richard Lorel-lo (a known local political activist), and Tracey Kent resign in protest, accusing Fantino and Harper of cro-nyism for giving the mo-ney to known Fantino supporters (that is Ciccolini and DeGasperis) instead of the City of Vaughan or York Central.

Rewriting history…
At City Hall, some Vaug-han councillors start talking about revising the land accord with VHCC and having the City keep ownership of all the land. On June 24, 2011, Sorbara se-nds a letter to Bevilacqua, all Council members and tens of other (evidently important) people, suddenly questioning the acti-vities of the Foundation and of VHCC. He writes about the need for “transparency” and “accountability”; of private enterprise and the need instead of public endeavour. He argues for a review of the VHCC governance to bring it under “control” and make it more “transparent”. He also suggests that VHCC be completely removed from the Foun-dation and its fundraising activities.
Yet, up to that moment, there had been no registered instances of VHCC’s acts of “malpractice”, hidden or improper procedures or activities.
On July 11, Vaughan Co-uncil approves a motion to re-negotiate the terms of the Contribution Agree-ment, keep ownership of the land and not grant the leasehold to VHCC; it also calls for a review of the VHCC’s governance stru-cture and indicates that the Foundation should only be involved in raising funds for the hospital.

2011 ends with a bang!
VHCC sends a letter to Council indicating that it is “reluctantly acquiescing to the City’s desire to terminate VHCC’s involvement in the development of the Campus of Care Lands”.
VHCC notes that since it no longer has a parcel of land, the “famous” $10 million received from the federal government will probably have to be retur-ned ; the use of that money is also subject to a very tight timeframe: the first $5million must be utilized by March 31, 2012; the re-maining $5 million by March 31, 2014. Specific legal procedures will need to be identified to permit the Foundation to transfer to a third party the authority to disburse the monies it has collected (funds that have been donated for specific services and projects). Furthermore, legal and contractual issues must be resolved regarding ongoing VHCC projects, engineering assignments, land studies, analysis, consultants' reports and any call for tender or proposal issued by the VHCC for the Campus of Care.
The negotiations between the City and VHCC are at the moment awaiting an official public response by Council to the VHCC letter.
Just recently, the Foun-dation has announced the resignation of its president and CEO Bob Baker. He was going to lead the Foundation’s major $200 million fundraising effort; but the initiative had to be shelved. It cannot take pla-ce until the hospital project enters its Phase III -which is now estimated will not occur till at least two, three years from now…
The “future” of the new hospital appears to be ever further down the road …. And the citizens of Vau-ghan look on.

latest update
At press time( Thurs. Feb 2) we’ve learned of a Press Conference sche-duled for today Friday February 3, at 10 am in the City of Vaughan Mayor’s Office. Among the attendees MPP Greg Sorbara and York Central Hospital Reps.

Lo Specchio

Vaughan hospital - a “dust storm”, why? When you’re hit by a dust storm and reality vanishes around you, the only thing to do is trust your feet; as you feel the earth under your feet you re-establish contact with the main ro-ad…..that is, reality. For the last few weeks, the citizens of Vaughan have been caught in the middle of one of these “dust storms”. Except that, since January 27, 2003 till just a little while ago it was called so-mething else -a dream:the new future (now a must, as an adjective), Vaughan ho-spital. What happened? What has changed? At least two things: politics (that is, its self-interests), has taken over and in Vaughan the obsession with “transparency”, “ac-countability” and “integrity” has become a (politically convenient) witch hunt. Attentive followers (of the local scene) can’t help but also notice much political and personal getting even, at play. The fact is there never were difficulties; neither were there concerns regarding the level of professional know-how or problems of administrative logistical or executive transparency. All mandates of objective responsibility have been at all times clearly indicated and respected. So, why then is the new (future) hospital not under construction, since last year -as indicated on May 1, 2007 by the then Health Minister George Smither-man when he announced to have asked the pro-vince’s Central Local He-alth Integration Network (CLHIN), to draft a plan in the next 12 months for the (Vaughan) hospital, with construction beginning within four years? Smitherman identified the Vaughan Health Care Fo-undation as the CLHIN’s key partner. In October 2008, the then new Minister of Health David Caplan asked CL-HIN to work with the Vau-ghan Health Campus of Care (VHCC), on the de-velopment of a “Master Plan” for the new (future) hospital. The “Foundation” had be-en busy at promoting the project and at fundraising for it since 2004 and the VHCC had been officially created in 2008 to work on having the hospital build together with the attached Campus of ancillary he-alth services. At work since 2003… The idea of a hospital for Vaughan was formalized on January 27, 2003 by the then Major Michael Di Biase with the creation of a Task Force and the commitment of a group of volunteers among whom we-re Sam Ciccolini and Mi-chael DeGasperis; the two would go on to, respectively, lead the Foundation and the VHCC. A study conducted by the Foundation indicated that Vaughan needed a 375 bed hospital. Since then, the Foundation and VHCC have been on the front-line leading the fundraising ef-forts and the planning of the multi-faceted hospital complex and the various other health-care services that had been determined Vaughan needed. As work progressed, the volunteer group expanded into the Vaughan Health Services Group and the Foundation diversified its many fundraising activities to help finance other entities such as the Vau-ghan Community Health Centre and services for se-nior citizens. In 2009, VHCC received $7 million from the Mi-nistry of Health towards the “Master Plan”. It also negotiated a $154 million commitment from York Region and identified and bought (on behalf of the City of Vaughan that had approved an $80 million commitment), an 87 acres parcel of land at Jane and Major Mackenzie on which to build the hospital and develop the campus of care ancillary health services. Furthermore, VHCC de-veloped a working agreement with Toronto’s Sun-nybrook (hospital). For the Foundation and VHCC these have been years of intensive work and commitment, particularly in terms of fundraising ( $12.2 million so far), and in planning, programming, completing studies and analysis for the project, and in identifying those potential “ important key donors”; all geared towards “a shovel on the ground” in 2011. But, in 2009 the Province changes its mind (why? –mystery), and Richmond Hill’s York Central Ho-spital is given the mandate to build the new (future) Vaughan Hospital. VHCC retains the development of the Campus of Care. (Vaughan) Council signs an agreement with VHCC granting it a leasehold in-terest on the 40 acres of the Campus of Care lands when the hospital project reaches its third stage of development. The hour of politics In the meantime, some (al-leged?) old political fri-endships fall apart. Julian Fantino, head of the Pro-vince’s Emergency Ser-vices “betrays” the liberals -according to Greg Sorbara, liberal MPP for Vaughan (and political “rainmaker” of the McGu-inty government), and runs for the Conservatives in the federal by-election for “Vaughan” (the seat had been vacated by libe-ral MP Maurizio Bevi- lacqua, for his successful run at Mayor of Vaughan in October 2010). Fantino wins the by-election and states his commitment to the hospital project. Sorbara doesn’t take it too well and reminds Fantino that “hospitals are a pro-vincial responsibility.” Early in 2011, the pot boils over… Fantino –now a minister of State in the Harper government announces a $10 million federal grant to VHCC for Campus of Ca-re infrastructures. Sorbara calls it “a political anno-uncement” as the country is in the middle of a federal election campaign.Two members of the Vaughan Conservative Riding As-sociation –Richard Lorel-lo (a known local political activist), and Tracey Kent resign in protest, accusing Fantino and Harper of cro-nyism for giving the mo-ney to known Fantino supporters (that is Ciccolini and DeGasperis) instead of the City of Vaughan or York Central. Rewriting history… At City Hall, some Vaug-han councillors start talking about revising the land accord with VHCC and having the City keep ownership of all the land. On June 24, 2011, Sorbara se-nds a letter to Bevilacqua, all Council members and tens of other (evidently important) people, suddenly questioning the acti-vities of the Foundation and of VHCC. He writes about the need for “transparency” and “accountability”; of private enterprise and the need instead of public endeavour. He argues for a review of the VHCC governance to bring it under “control” and make it more “transparent”. He also suggests that VHCC be completely removed from the Foun-dation and its fundraising activities. Yet, up to that moment, there had been no registered instances of VHCC’s acts of “malpractice”, hidden or improper procedures or activities. On July 11, Vaughan Co-uncil approves a motion to re-negotiate the terms of the Contribution Agree-ment, keep ownership of the land and not grant the leasehold to VHCC; it also calls for a review of the VHCC’s governance stru-cture and indicates that the Foundation should only be involved in raising funds for the hospital. 2011 ends with a bang! VHCC sends a letter to Council indicating that it is “reluctantly acquiescing to the City’s desire to terminate VHCC’s involvement in the development of the Campus of Care Lands”. VHCC notes that since it no longer has a parcel of land, the “famous” $10 million received from the federal government will probably have to be retur-ned ; the use of that money is also subject to a very tight timeframe: the first $5million must be utilized by March 31, 2012; the re-maining $5 million by March 31, 2014. Specific legal procedures will need to be identified to permit the Foundation to transfer to a third party the authority to disburse the monies it has collected (funds that have been donated for specific services and projects). Furthermore, legal and contractual issues must be resolved regarding ongoing VHCC projects, engineering assignments, land studies, analysis, consultants' reports and any call for tender or proposal issued by the VHCC for the Campus of Care. The negotiations between the City and VHCC are at the moment awaiting an official public response by Council to the VHCC letter. Just recently, the Foun-dation has announced the resignation of its president and CEO Bob Baker. He was going to lead the Foundation’s major $200 million fundraising effort; but the initiative had to be shelved. It cannot take pla-ce until the hospital project enters its Phase III -which is now estimated will not occur till at least two, three years from now… The “future” of the new hospital appears to be ever further down the road …. And the citizens of Vau-ghan look on. *latest update* At press time( Thurs. Feb 2) we’ve learned of a Press Conference sche-duled for today Friday February 3, at 10 am in the City of Vaughan Mayor’s Office. Among the attendees MPP Greg Sorbara and York Central Hospital Reps.
3 febbraio 2012			stampa \| chiudi